Heroes Marathon

I was a certified TV addict. I would watch whatever is showing on the small screen even though it was a re-run and I have seen it so many times. The telly was my best friend and was more important then anything else. My life was scheduled around the TV guide. Even my boyfriend had a hard time getting my full attention when I am around Mr Telly.

And sometimes, I would get a phone call during those 'critical' moments.... such as when Luke just found out his girlfriend is cheating on him.... my eyes are glued intently on his every movement and suddenly....kringgggg.....'ah drats..damn it...who can it be?'

"Hello" .... "Oh sayang...." on the other end my darling was telling me about his dreadful day....and I on the other hand was phasing him out trying to concentrate on the on-screen drama. I am no multi-tasker. I am really envious of people who can do dozen of things at the same time and still remember every moment of it. I have a slow processor, my CPU is still 386K and my RAM...lets not mention about it.I get pissed when my PC goes slow and eventually kaput when i use so many applications at a time , but now I realise, it is just imitating its owner that goes into shutdown when too much info is presented to her.

Back to the boyfriend, usually before I got into shutdown or a meltdown (more likely as I would then miss a critical part of the drama and that is so not acceptable) my defense mechanism would kick in. Yes, THE WHITE LIE!

"Sayang, sorry....but I have to put down the phone. Emergency! Toilet! I need to goooooo". And I slam down the phone, position myself back in front of the TV and stare blissfully at the screen.

This was years ago and as expected the relationship did not work out. Me and telly have since then also gone our separate ways. Actually I had myself admitted into rehabilitation and also joined the TA (telly anonymous) a support group for television addicts. I have been sober for a few years now but occasionally I do get relapses. I am predicting a relapse this Sunday as there is going to be Heroes Season 2 Marathon. OMG A MARATHON?!! 10 episodes back to back, oh such temptation, I don't think I can resist.

My love affair

I am so excited. Haven't dive for more than 2 months. In a few days time I will be in Tioman. Balik kampung! Yeah, Tioman is where it started. My love affair with the underwater world. It was in February 2004 (the first week when the island opened after the monsoon) Marina and I reached the shored of Salang. We were the 1st customer there and the first open water students for that season. And the only diving school opened was B&J and the only instructor that was there was Ben.

Our first venture underwater was during the confined water One (actually, it was in the sea at Salang Bay) and both of us couldn't concentrate on our lessons. We were too awed looking at the fishes that are swimming around us. Marina had a problem as she couldn't pee underwater but that skill came to me so naturally... and I love the feeling of warmth spreading under the wetsuit, one of the first pleasures of diving I learned.

Anyway, I must say, Fan Canyon was at that time wonderful with visibility of more than 20 metres. Huge colourful Gargonian sea fans everywhere. But since we were there as open water students and a few days later as fun divers we were not able to enjoy the scenery that much. Marina and I were too busy consciously breathing and controlling our buoyancy to notice everything else.

I have been back 5 times after that. Every time, we try to go for a dive in Fan Canyon. It is still beautiful but never have I been able to get that similar visibility and conditions. It is just luck, I am blessed to have seen it once under the perfect condition.

I am going back in four days, and I hope that everything will be perfect this time around. It is my heaven underwater.

Webtag

I have been tagged by Ardy

The Linking Tag Rules

1. List out five favourite links - the links can be of business sites, affiliate links or whatever that suits the blogger.

2. Tag five more people to share their links, so hopefully, at the end of the tag, we would be able to share good links with each other.

3. The links MUST be clean. No X-rated sites.

4. List out only FIVE links.

5. You MUST tell the FIVE people you chose.

6. Provide the link back to the person who tagged you.

7. Obviously, it should be an active link.

Well then, my five links would be:

1. CIMBclicks - eversince CIMB/BCB expanded their internet transactions it has been wonderful for me. I do not have to go to the bank for anything except to withdraw money (for transactions I cannot do over the Net)

2. Facebook - I love this application as it allowed me to find my old friends that I have lost touch with.

3. Medscape -I usually go to this site to check out the latest in medicine and also keep up with CME's.

4. BigHugeLAbs - an application that allows me to play around with photos such as Mosaic Maker, Jigsaw, Movie Posters... It allows me to be creative and have fun

5. Lastly my all time favorite Google and its brainier cousin Google Scholar It was my life saver in masters. Used it a lot for my theses research and weekly presentation. Note: Question: "What research method did you employ in this presentation?" Answer: Well, I Googled it up...

Now let see, who should I tag?

1. Floweryskies
2. Lily
3. Najib
4. Hazyr
5. Spena

A recap - my 2008 Elections

The dust have not yet settled but then I am already late. So many bloggers have posted and commented on the Elections and its rather surprising results. But,I still want to write something.

I went polling at the Wangsa Maju constituency. It was a family affair, all 6 of us went to cast out votes at SM Setapak Indah. And as usual, only once in 4-5 years we meet our old Taman Ibukota friends and neighbours.

By 8pm, the whole family plus our neighbours were glued to the TV - we opted for RTM1 and occasionally TV Awani on Astro as our main news provider. TV3 was absolutely biased and the opinions were lopsided (well, now I know BN controls TV3). The panel of experts on TV1 were excellent and gave more factual instead of sentiment driven opinions.

I was also outsourcing information from the net, mainly Malaysiakini and Bernama(though Bernama news were very slow, I guess they have to verify before publishing anything). It was strange when news only trickled in by 9pm. Not a common phenomenon - I usually kept the score sheet on elections for the past 5 elections and usually by 9-10pm 50% of the results would have been in.

The scenario reminds me so much of the 1999 Elections where recount after recount forced the results to be so much delayed.

Anyway, after 2 am when only a handful of Selangor and Perak state seats have been announced I made the assumption that BN had most probably lost both states. By then Penang and Kedah was already under the Opposition.

I guess the Election results was a shocker. A shocker to the BN staunch supporters (I am sure my late grandfather would have had a heart attack if was still alive); a shocker to the Rakyat and even a shocker to the Opposition. Who would expect to be running for a state seat and the next day you are the candidate earmarked as the next MB? My guess is Khalid Ibrahim did not.

Barisan Nasional won only 140 Parlimen seats compared to 199 seats in the 2004 Elections. That is a deficit of 59 seats. Who would have anticipated that? It is such a huge blow to the party leaders.

However, looking at this year's Barisan's campaign I assumed that someone in Barisan had a feeling this would happen. Barisan went all out in the pre-elections campaign. Never before the media coverage was so biased, the masses were shoved with visuals of BN every 5 minutes - it reached a point that I was so irritated that I would have just voted for anyone else. And never before BArisan advertised on Yahoo, yup, not only my telly was invaded by the Barisan adverts even my PC too. And lastly, never before have I seen a candidate plaster her face on a huge (and I mean huge) billboard beside one of the most busy highways in Klang Valley in hopes to garner support. To me, that was an indication of desperation, I may be wrong but that was the impression me, a lay person had!

And now, two days after, everywhere it is so quiet. None of the usual celebration. Every one is quiet. For Barisan, there is nothing to say, the people have spoken. Now it is time to reflect, the masses were unhappy and they have voiced their dissatisfaction. Yes, Barisan is still the ruling party, but it they do not address the grievances and dissatisfactions of the people they may not be in power in the future. Barisan only won in their stronghold, places where if one puts a monkey to contest under the barisan flag it would most probably win. These places usually have the aged voters (the Saluran Dua keatas voters). Sooner or later these voters will not be there to support Barisan anymore.

As for the Opposition, it is my sincerest wish that they do the best for the people. Sometimes, it's easier to criticize when you are from the outside looking in. But when in power they might fall in the same trap. Money and power can do the most 'wonderful' things to the best of people.

It will be another 5 years to the next Election. To all who have won, this is a chance to show people that they have made the right choice. Those who lost, do some soul searching and reflection. And for the party leaders, show some balls and take responsibility of what have happened (this I dedicate to the leaders of UMNO, MIC, MCA...well, hats off to Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, that's a gentleman).

Quack-o-logy

Found this while having lunch in Bandar Temerloh. It managed to put a smile on my face.

I guess the owner was trying to be savvy and relevant by jumping into the 'i' bandwagon. But combining both 'i' and 'tek' (which I assume is the Malaysian version of tech aka technology) it just don't work.

Running through my mind was who can use the computer centre? Is it only opened to Donald Duck, Daisy, Duckwing Duck, Count Duckula and Daffy Duck? But since it's mentioned as 'rakan i-tek' whether persons like Mickey, Minnie and Goofy are also welcomed?

And I also wonder what kind of computer language is used? Quack perhaps?

Elections, elections, elections

Elections is just around the corner and everywhere you turn you will be reminded of it. Posters, flags, banners are placed haphazardly along roads, walls and trees. It happens only once in five years and thus the frenzy of activities. Many are cashing in on the chaos hoping to make a fast buck here and there.

I meanwhile am not a politically inclined. I will excise my voting rights when 8th March arrives but who I will vote will depend on whose manifesto irks me the most. But then, I love this 3 week period after the dissolution of Parliament.

This is the period where those politically challenged people come and serve the ‘rakyat’. Day in day out they are there showing why they are the people’s right choice. It doesn’t matter that for the past 4 years, and goodness how many months after the previous election that these people the ADUN’s and the MP’s may have not stepped into their respective electoral areas, but now they are back ‘home’. Back home with the common people, with the Rakyat.

It is a window of opportunity I cannot let go.

Pahang is a state where there are many not too affluent people. Unfortunate people who land at the hospital’s doorstep with illness or injuries. The doctors would do the best they can with what they have. But being a doctor doesn’t mean just treating an illness, we also have to figure out the rehabilitation and post hospital care.

For example, a paraplegic or bed-bound person needs close and careful aftercare at home, and it is a burden on the caregivers. A concerned doctor needs to make sure that the caregivers are educated on how to care for such patient and also ensure they have some facilities that could lessen their burden, such as wheelchairs for ambulation and ripple mattress to prevent bedsores. Usually, the family has to purchase these amenities which are not cheap for the common Malaysian – RM500 for a normal wheelchair and RM800 for a ripple mattress. Bearing that in mind, the doctors would usually refer the patient to the Welfare Department for financial and supportive assistance.

Being true to the nature of a government department, the Welfare services would take a minimum of two months to approve what ever assistance that is required. Yes, they give the needed financial help but the time frame is horrendous.

That brings us back to the elections. It is such a warm feeling knowing that some Malaysians become more generous during this three week period. It must be something in the air, these ‘wonderful’, ‘caring’ Malaysians would suddenly sprout out from no where and would not hesitate to assist a fellow unfortunate citizen. The horrendous bureaucracy in helping others usually would disappear. By a snap of the fingers, some of my patients were bestowed with the much needed sets of wheels – the elusive wheelchairs. It doesn’t matter to me if their wheelchair have a certain party logo at the back, I don’t mind them endorsing or promoting a candidate- as long as they are ambulating and out of the hospital I am happy.


And to keep count, so far, since the election fever started we have managed to get 5 wheelchairs, one spine orthoses for my patients. I am now waiting to replies for 2 ripple mattress and three more wheelchairs.

I wish helping people is as easy as this all the time.